Born Dragonmaster
by Silent Swordmaster
Summary: PILOT: A young trainer teams up with the Blackthorn Dragonmaster's grandchildren Lance and Clair, and their adventures set the stage for the training of the greatest Dragon-type trainers on the planet.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Ouch!" Jeffix cried yanking his hand away. Trapinch looked at him puzzled. "Don't bite me like that!" he said. He placed his hand back down and Trapinch took it in his jaws, but gentler this time. "Okay, that's better," Jeffix said. "But it still tickles."

"Jeffix? Everything all right?"

"Yeah, Dad," he replied. "Trapinch is just being Trapinch." Jeffix patted his Pokémon's head that was gently clamped on his other hand. The ship rocked ever so slightly on the sea journey to Johto. Jeffix was headed to Blackthorn City, where the great Dragonmaster lived. The Dragonmaster taught young trainers the ways of dealing with Dragon-type Pokémon.

Jeffix knew that one day, his Trapinch would evolve into a Flygon, a Pokémon known as the Desert Spirit. Being from the Orré region, Jeffix knew about the vast desert that covered most of it. His father had given him Trapinch so that he would always carry a piece of his homeland with him.

Jeffix was only five, which is young for a trainer to begin their journey but Jeffix would be attending a school before setting off on any journey so his father wasn't worried at all.

"Want to go swimming?" Jeffix's father asked.

"Yeah!" he said.

"Alright then. Go get changed." He pulled out a Pokéball. "Blastoise! Go!" Blastoise jumped out of its Pokéball and off the ship's deck and into the ocean. Jeffix came back with his swimsuit and goggles on. He dove off the ship and into the water. He went pretty deep but Blastoise got him back to the surface before he ran out of air.

Trapinch stood on the railing and watched him play. Being a Ground-type, Trapinch didn't really like water. Jeffix's father patted the Pokémon on the head. "You two will make a great team. You'll go far. Just wait." Trapinch responded by nipping at his hand. "Oh you silly Pokémon."

* * *

><p><em>"All passengers departing at Olivine City please make your way to the exit now."<em>

"That's us," Jeffix's father declared. "The academy said there would be someone to meet us and take you to Blackthorn City."

"You're not coming?"

"Sorry son. I've got to hang around here for a little while. But you'll be fine. I promise. You're a Pokémon Trainer now. You and Trapinch are going to make great things happen. You'll take the Pokémon League by storm one day."

"Mr. Komer?" a man said as he approached them.

"Ah, this is the man from the academy."

"Hello, there. I'm Louis, of Blackthorn Academy. And you must be Jeffix." Jeffix looked up at the man. He wore slacks and a vest with lots of pockets over his shirt. He had ice-blue hair that dangled down the sides of his face.

"Yes, I'm Jeffix," the young boy replied.

"It's very nice to meet you," Louis said. "I see you've received a Pokémon. It looks quite happy with you."

"Well Trapinch is only a baby right now," Jeffix said. "He likes to bite my hand."

Louis laughed, "Well that's probably just its way of saying it likes you."

"Yeah, I know. But it still hurts."

"So Mr. Komer, is there any luggage that Jeffix requires with him?"

"I'm having it shipped to Blackthorn myself," Jeffix's father said.

"Well alright then," Louis said. "Shall we be on our way to Blackthorn?"

Jeffix's father turned to him. "Jeffix," he said, "I will see you again soon. I love you, your mother loves you, and Trapinch loves you too." He gave his young son a hug.

"Bye Dad," Jeffix said.

"Good-bye, Trapinch," he said as Trapinch gently closed its jaws around his hand. Jeffix's father laughed. "You know, Jeffix, you and Trapinch will make the greatest team. Then you can come back to Orré and become a Gym Leader."

"Dad, Orré doesn't even have a Pokémon League yet."

"Maybe it will by the time you've finished your training."

"We'll see, I guess."

"Good-bye, son."

"Good-bye, Dad."

* * *

><p>Jeffix walked with Louis to the borders of Olivine City. "How far is Blackthorn City, Louis?" he asked.<p>

"Quite a ways away actually," Louis replied, "but I've got something that will get us there in no time at all."

"Really? What is it?" he asked.

Louis reached into his vest, pulled out a Pokéball and tossed it up in the air. "Come on out, Dragonair!" The ball opened and out popped a Pokémon Jeffix had never seen before.

"Whoa!" he gasped.

"Go on, Jeffix," Louis said. "Say hi."

"Hi, Dragonair..." Dragonair then lowered its snout and allowed Jeffix to pet it. "It's so smooth!"

"Now let's climb on," Louis said.

"What?"

"Dragonair can fly. We're going to ride it to Blackthorn City."

"Wow!" Jeffix exclaimed. He scooped up Trapinch and sat down on Dragonair's back. Louis sat down behind him.

"All right, Dragonair. Let's fly! Hold on tight, Jeffix!"


	2. Chapter 2

Lance was nervous. His fifth birthday had arrived which meant that today would be his first day at his grandfather's academy. Lance climbed the steps of the Blackthorn Gym to go see him.

The doors to the gym were always very intimidating to Lance. So big and forboding, but then he remembered why he had come. If a couple of doors scared him now, how would he make it as a trainer? Lance stepped inside the gym and made his way to the very back to find his grandfather's office. Lance gave a quick knock. "Come in!" came a loud voice from behind the door.

Lance stepped inside and saw not one, but two people there. His grandfather sat behind his desk, his long white beard reaching to its flat top. Sitting in a chair to his right was a boy slightly older than Lance. He had short brown hair, wore clothes made for adventuring and had a Pokémon Lance had never seen before siting on top of his head. It was orange and had a big head with large jaws.

"Ah, Lance my boy!" the Dragonmaster stood to give his grandson a big hug. "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks, Grampa!"

"Wow, you're five already son. I think it's high time you were given a Pokémon of your own!"

"Really, Grampa?"

"Yes, but you're going to have to go and find it. Oh, I forgot! Lance, I'd like you to meet Jeffix." Lance's grandfather motioned toward the child sitting down in the chair.

"Hi," the boy said quietly.

"He arrived here yesterday from the Orré region."

"The Orré region?" Lance had never heard of it.

"It's a very far away place covered by a vast desert. It's famous for not having many wild Pokémon but producing very tough trainers."

"Is that where you caught your...?" Lance tried to ask but he didn't know the name of that orange Pokémon.

"It's a Trapinch," Jeffix said, "and I didn't actually catch it. It was a present from my dad before I came here."

"Well, now that we're all acquainted," the Dragonmaster said, "Lance, you can go out into the wild beyond the city and Jeffix will help you catch your first Pokémon."

"He will?"

"I will?"

"Oh come on! You two will have fun!" the Dragonmaster replied. "And Lance, going out and exploring will be good for you."

"If you say so Grampa," Lance sighed. His grandfather was always right. He was both wise and a very powerful trainer.

* * *

><p>"So what exactly are we looking for?" Lance asked Jeffix.<p>

"I don't know. What kind of Pokémon did you want?"

"I hadn't actually thought about that. I guess I really like Dragon types because they remind me of my grampa."

"Then let's see if we can go get one!" The two boys headed down a mountainous path and kept their eyes peeled. Trapinch held on tightly to Jeffix's shoulder as they ran. After a good while, the boys sat down breathless.

"Boy, finding Pokémon is really hard!" Lance gasped.

"You're telling me," Jeffix also gasped. Trapinch looked up at Jeffix quizzically. "Oh, don't look at me like that," he said to Trapinch. He put his hand down to pet Trapinch but the Pokémon gently closed around his hand with its jaws. "Ouch," Jeffix said in mild discomfort.

"You okay?" Lance asked.

"Yup. Trapinch does this to people he likes."

"So why did you come to Blackthorn?" Lance asked.

"I told my dad I really liked Dragon type Pokémon so on my fifth birthday, he gave me Trapinch and said we would travel to Blackthorn City to train under the great Dragonmaster."

"You mean my grampa?"

"That's right. He's pretty famous."

"But Trapinch isn't a Dragon type, is it? It looks like a Ground type."

"It is a Ground type but it will eventually evolve into a Vibrava, which is a Dragon type."

"I see. So where's your dad?"

"He and my mom travel a lot because he competes in the leagues. I guess now that I'm here, he had an excuse to go compete again."

"Does he use Dragon types?"

"Not really. His first Pokémon was a Squirtle which is now a huge Blastoise. When I get stronger, we'll battle!"

Suddenly, Trapinch perked up and ran off past a rock. "Trapinch!" Jeffix yelled. "Come back!" Trapinch didn't listen and kept going. Jeffix pulled Lance up and they went after the Pokémon together. The boys jumped over rocks running after the Pokémon until they found Trapinch standing there growling at something. A Dragonite was sitting in what looked like a nest but was being attacked by a gang of Graveler. "Whoa," Jeffix stared. There were about ten Graveler all pelting Dragonite with what looked like Rock Blast. Dragonite charged up a Hyper Beam and blasted it at a few of the Graveler, but it wasn't enough for all of them. A Golem appeared who seemingly led the Graveler and fired off what looked like a Stone Edge. It hit Dragonite square in the face, causing the Dragon Pokémon to collapse.

"Waah!" Lance yelped. "What do we do?"

"We help out! Trapinch! Use Sand Tomb!" Trapinch opened its mouth and unleashed a huge flurry of sand. Dragonite ducked for cover but the Graveler got caught right in the middle. It didn't do much to damage them however and the entire gang turned to the boys and Trapinch. The charged straight for them, looking like they were about to use Rollout.

"Ahh!" Lance yelled. "We're gonna get murdered!"

"Not yet we're not," Jeffix yelled. "Trapinch! Hidden Power!" Trapinch opened its powerful jaws yet again and a white light appeared in its mouth, which then exploded into dozens of tiny orbs, which then fired right at the oncoming Graveler, hitting dead on. The Graveler stopped dead in their tracks. "All right!"

"How'd you do that?" Lance asked amazed.

"I'm pretty sure Trapinch's Hidden Power becomes a Ice type move. At least, that's what I remember my dad saying."

"And Ice types are good against Ground types!" Lance said enthusiastically.

"Right! Want to finish them off?"

"What?"

"Just tell Trapinch to use Hidden Power one more time."

"You mean it?"

"Yeah, go ahead!"

"All right! Trapinch! Hidden Power! One more time!" Trapinch fired more white orbs at the gang and they all turned tail and rolled away as fast as they could. Golem ran after its comrades.

"Very nice!" Jeffix said.

"Now let's see if Dragonite's okay!" Lance said. The two boys carefully approached the big Pokémon. "Dragonite?" The Pokémon didn't get up. The boys looked behind the fallen Pokémon and saw that it was incubating two blue eggs.

"That's why it didn't move from the nest," Jeffix said. "It wanted to protect the eggs."

"What do we do now?" Lance asked.

"I don't know."

"We can't leave the eggs here."

"No. We'll have to take them with us. When they hatch, we'll take good care of them."

"Are you sure?"

"It'll be your first Pokémon."

"You're right." Lance said staring at the egg. "We can't move Dragonite either. Let's go get Grampa. He'll know what to do."

* * *

><p><strong>Two Weeks Later...<strong>

* * *

><p>"Dratini!" Lance called.<p>

"Don't worry," Jeffix assured him, "he'll be fine." Lance and Jeffix were on a small boat fishing in the middle of a lake near Blackthorn. Jeffix's Dratini was wrapped around his neck, sound asleep. Lance's Dratini jumped out of the water and over into the boat. The Pokémon cooed at Lance and coiled up in his lap.

Lance smiled. "Thanks, Jeffix."

"What for?"

"Helping me get started. Now that I have a Pokémon I love, I'm not afraid anymore! I'll be going straight to the top!"

"Dragonmaster Lance does have a nice ring to it," Jeffix remarked. "Thinking about being Gym Leader?"

"Nope. I'm thinking League Champion!"

"Wow."

"And we'll have to battle one day too!"

"Someday sure."

Lance felt great. He had his Pokémon, his partner and best friend, and his dream.


End file.
